Lunar Empire
The Lunar Empire is a formable nation of Equestria, led by Princess Luna's malevolent alter ego Nightmare Moon. It can be formed as a result of the Luna led reforms event chain if the attempts to bring equal rights to thestrals fail. Lore Luna and The Thestrals Over a millennium ago, Luna and Celestia ruled together. Every morning, Celestia would raise the sun and hold court, addressing the concerns of the Kingdom and representing the royal sisters. Every evening, Luna would raise the moon and shape the dreams of Equestria's subjects, battling nightmares and imparting wisdom and counsel. Together, Harmony reigned. Luna loved her ponies, but it was the unofficial fourth tribe - the thestrals (batponies), the night-time counterparts of the pegasi. Featuring leathery wings, fluffy ears, good night vision and batlike fangs, these ponies preferred to work and play at night. Luna fondly employed batponies as her Royal Guard and closest servants, though most preferred the distant mountains and caves of Equestria to the growing urban centres of the new kingdom, where they faced discrimination, mistrust, and inconvenient business hours. Growing Disharmony Luna gradually became envious and resentful of her older sister, as ponies were awake to enjoy the day and to admire Celestia's work, whilst sleeping through Luna's night. Luna worked in the shadows, her subjects unaware of her protection both psychic and physical. Always the younger, weaker, and slower of the two, Luna had been continually overshadowed and now her childhood insecurities became real once again. She longed to be a true Goddess of the Night. More and more, Luna sought comfort with bat ponies and their loyal appreciation. But instead of comfort, she saw her own pain reflected in them - every day they were unappreciated, mistreated and misunderstood by others. The Origin of Nightmare Moon Luna's bitterness is well known. But what happened next is less understood. Some ponies insist that the dark powers that infest the moon, waiting for a chance to strike, overpowered Luna in a moment of vulnerability, taking her mind. Others say that the corruption was hers and hers alone. Others say that all alicorns must struggle with corruption inherent in their power. Whatever the case, as a rare solar eclipse overshadowed the sun, so too did Luna overshadow her sister, a towering warrior of the night writhing with magic energy and hatred - Nightmare Moon. To depose Celestia and usher in a reign of Eternal Night, she attacked. Celestia was driven back, unable to match the newfound power of her sister. In desperation, she called upon the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon, banishing her to the moon. The struggle of the two sisters was not the only battle that night. The thestrals, sensing that Luna was in danger, rushed to her aid, overpowering the Royal Guard, only to arrive too late. Ponies, terrified of the eternal night and Nightmare Moon's rise, formed angry mobs, killing and driving bat ponies out of the fledgling Equestrian society and into the mountains and caves. Ponies and thestrals were split that day, and thestrals cursed Celestia's sun and those who supported it, mourning their Princess. Celestia sat on her throne, resolute but uneasy, as prophecies whispered that in a thousand years, on the Summer Solstice, the peak of Celestia's power, Nightmare Moon would make her return to seek revenge. Return and Redemption Years turned into decades, decades turned into centuries. Celestia, whether out of pain, guilt, or self-interest, never spoke of the past. Luna, once a Princess of the realm, became an old mare's tale relegated to dusty tomes and stories to frighten children. Only the bat ponies truly remembered. The thousandth year of return drew close. Celestia entrusted her hopes to her star magical protege, the young unicorn Twilight Sparkle, whom she dispatched to Ponyville to learn about Friendship and Harmony. As feared, Nightmare Moon escaped her bonds. She moved swiftly, defeating Celestia and destroying the Elements of Harmony. But Celestia's gamble paid off, and Twilight Sparkle and her friends were able to incarnate as the avatars of the Elements of Harmony, restoring the old Princess Luna. Present day Today Luna reigns again, raising the moon and patrolling the dreams of the night. Celestia has worked hard to gain Luna acceptance and recognition amongst Equestria. The suspicion of dark poorly remembered tales has been replaced by trust in Celestia's word and the powerful symbolism of unity between Sun and Moon. Luna has accepted the solitude related to her role, lives in the love and encouragement of her big sister and has sworn to never let her shadow take over once more. However 7 years later, a darkness is returning to Luna, indeed to all of Equestria. Thestrals continue to live apart from the 3 Tribes, mistrusted and exploited as cheap labour within Equestria. Luna, returning as their beloved Princess from the ancient stories, seethes at the continued oppression of the thestrals, and quietly prepares a bold proposal to remake Equestria. Despite her anger, Luna takes solace in one fact. She sleeps more soundly than she can ever recall. Meanwhile marginal religious cults dedicated to the eternal night and Nightmare Moon have emerged from the shadows, growing in number. Many new recruits report dreams in which they are called by Nightmare Moon to serve, given directions, orders and secret instructions. Can Luna resist the call of darkness? Or will Nightmare Moon rise again? Starting position Raising the fires of civil war against the most powerful country in the world, the Lunar Empire begins in a delicate situation and will require some skill to eclipse Celestia's Sun. Starting the civil war will do a few things. * Nightmare Moon will receive 40k ponypower * Existing military units will be split, with Nightmare Moon between 20-80% of the Equestrian army, depending on choices made in the lead-up to the civil war. * Both Equestria and the Luna Empire will receive many new spawned units, all fully equipped. * - The Empire starts with the eastern half of Equestria, from the Griffish Isles to Comet Province. The Lunar Empire has no cores at game start - it will take approximately 100 days to receive its full cores, which will be on starting territory only and will therefore gain almost no ponypower advancing through Equestria. * - Military industrial potential is slightly lower or higher depending on whether you have completed the industrial focus with Equestria. However, its civil and maritime industrial potential is superior. If the civil war were to immediately happen upon game start, Equestria will have 43 divisions of 230k ponies deployed, a superior navy of 30 ships and a population of 22.0 million. * - will receive a choice whether to remain neutral, support Celestia, or support NMM in this conflict. The AI will rarely support NMM and is more likely to support Celestia if subordination focuses have been taken. Crystal Empire has a population of 13.7M, usually less than 10 divisions. * - will receive a choice whether to remain neutral, support Celestia, or support NMM in this conflict. If New Mareland takes Patriation, it will always elect to stay neutral. * - Stalliongrad will start neutral but will gain a decision to creep south and retake their cores. Later on, when Equestria is losing, it will gain a decision to call Stalliongrad to help. Stalliongrad has a reasonable chance to accept, forcing the Lunar Empire into a two-front war. Territory Changes and Secessions * will automatically reclaim its cores * (Communist) will secede in the east * (Harmonic) will secede in the southeast * (Fascist) will secede in the southeast * (Non-aligned) will secede in the southeast * (Communist) will secede in the west * (Non-aligned) will secede in the southwest (usually) The Southern Civil War These secessions will start a mini civil war in the south; against , and . Neither Equestria nor the Lunar Empire can intervene until later. Should the Disciples win, they will later rejoin the Lunar Empire. Should the Celestial State win, they will later rejoin Equestria. Both countries can take up the torch of their fallen leaders - Disciples can restore Nightmare Moon even if she loses the civil war, and Celestial State can restore Celestia even if Equestria loses. National Focuses The focus tree of Lunar Empire is divided into four main sections. From left to right: *Political Tree - Dealing with the Civil war, both during and after *Military Tree *Industrial and Research Tree *Conquest Tree Political Tree - Civil War This tree is most notable for its ability to remove the Fragile Rule spirit, which is a powerful malus the Empire will receive about 100 days into the war. The left part of this tree will bypass if the civil war is ended. All wartime bonuses will be removed after the war. ;Fragile Rule :Daily Political Power Gain: :Stability: :Division Recovery Rate: :Factory Repair Speed: :Production Efficiency Cap: :Construction Speed : Notable focuses: * New Moon Volunteers - gives 12 fully equipped infantry divisions. Their templates are weaker but are very capable at holding a line. * Support the Disciples - sends a shipment of 3,500 guns to your ally . *'Loyalist Turncoats' - creates six more fully equipped infantry divisions. *'Military Police' - gives daily PP, division recovery rate, and effect of enemy partisans. *'A Firm Hoof' - decreases the Fragile Rule malus. *'Destroy the Resistance' - removes the Fragile Rule malus. Political Tree - Post-Civil War Once the civil war has concluded, Nightmare Moon has the choice between inflicting vengeance on her former foes, or becoming a benevolent mistress of the night. The bonuses for both of these paths are listed below in the table. Military Tree The military tree is fairly standard, with trees for the various doctrines. Like all Empire focuses it has a faster completion time to remain useful during the civil war. Notably, it has some small bonuses to night combat. Economic Tree This branch has factories, resources, a research slot, strong magical research bonuses and research speed improvements. The left branch Expand the Arms Industry adds 6 military factories, construction speed, efficiency cap, a research slot, and various magical weaponry and magical research bonuses. The middle branch adds resources to extract and a resources gain efficiency bonus. The right branch adds a total of 10 civilian factories, and several useful wartime spirits Conquest Tree This tree allows reconquest of all former Equestrian states and conquest of other threats on the continent, notably Stalliongrad, Nova Griffonia, the Crystal Empire and the Changeling Lands Strategy This strategy guide uses "gamey" techniques in order to make the civil war easier for the player. More roleplay / fairness orientated players may take this as a guideline. General Considerations The Lunar Empire player has to consider several elements. * Industry - Should be build in advantageous locations in the east. Civilian industry will be mostly irrelevant due to harsh construction speed penalties and equipment shortages. The following focuses are recommended as they will build in Lunar territory - Military Potential, Manehattan Steel Factories and Fillydelphia Automobile Factories. * Stockpiles '-' 'The Luna player will receive no stockpiles. Equestria will keep its existing stockpiles. Guns should be in hooves, not in stockpiles. Although Lunar Empire receives only 20-40% of the Equestrian army, this is preferable to giving 100% of stockpiled equipment to Equestria. * '''Political Power '- The Lunar Empire will not receive any Equestrian staff or design companies. Therefore pre-war Equestria should waste PP on things that will not benefit Equestria instead of building an effective cabinet - special construction decisions, prospecting for resources, useless design companies, useless high command are good potential choices. * 'Political Focuses '- The Lunar Empire's greatest advantage is it starts on a war footing unlike Equestria - do not assist Equestria by taking The Ministry of Defense. The industrial tree favours Luna so is the best choice. For wasting focuses the Buffalo Relations tree provides little of value early on. Keep in mind that the Lunar civil war is random, so cannot be reliably timed against Equestrian focuses * - will invade towards the end of 1010 (this tends later if non-historical). Fighting Equestria and the Changelings at the same time will be disastrous. You should aim to win before early 1010, so you will have the time to prepare for war and use your militarised industry. * - Can attack the Lunar Empire if the Mare Republic reaches 15% surrender level OR Equestria reaches 50% Surrender level. Dangerously positioned on the flank of the empire, it can quickly capture industrial centers. Generally winnable if the war against Equestria is going well, it is a problem if not prepared for. Starting the Civil War See Equestria#Luna_Led_Reforms. Fighting Celestia's forces General Tactics Like most civil wars, sound micromanagement, encirclement, and a combination of smaller holding divisions and higher quality fighting divisions is the key to victory. Patience should reward you against the AI, though be careful as the AI is quite opportunistic and can catch you in encirclements as well - a dry loss of several core divisions is likely to sign the outright defeat of the Lunar Empire. The Lunar Empire doesn't have Equestrian cores, so focus on kills and encirclements, not on territory (that will come later). Worse, taking 50% can pull Stalliongrad into the war. Canterlot is the exception if you can take it (or even more brilliant encircle it) due to its industry. Positioning Equestria will start the war with most of the army, and like the Lunar Empire, will receive many extra divisions automatically. Unlike the Lunar Empire, these extra forces are often poorly equipped. Let's hope you remembered to use up the stockpile! Despite this, the front is far too big to be fully covered and focuses will provide reinforcements for the Luna Empire. With the states that will secede and given the concentration of industry, it is best to concentrate most on the northern half of Equestria (above the narrow bit). Reinforcements will fill out the southern sections. The divisions appearing at '''Tall Tales are generally unreachable and should be used to tie up troops to the end (don't forget the Last Stand command. Alternatively, it is possible to make a dash for Las Pegasus, which is defensible, has enough VP supply to keep the troops equipped, and can be used to later help split north and south Equestria. Assign the Commando general to support their unsupplied trek to their positions. A few weeks after the beginning of the war a choice is offered to the player: appearing allied divisions to Las Pegasus or at Whinnyapolis. It is more useful to choose those of Las Pegasus to join the divisions that the player will have gone back to Jamtown. With these reinforcements it becomes possible to form a second front to the west and begin to encircle the divisions of Equestria, as in the east. It is advised to hold the general front on the north and central parts of the border, as the south is a narrow space of land that can be easily lost. Las Pegasus can distract several AI divisions if handled with care. Connecting the starting divisions from Jamtown and Tall Tales is usually enough to hold a small circle around the city without losses. Stalliongrad's Entry Equestria may call Stalliongrad at 50% Surrender progress. Fortunately for the Lunar Empire, Stalliongrad will often reject this. Stalliongrad can also enter if the Disciples are winning against Mare Republic. If Stalliongrad does join, this leaves a choice of two tactics - rush for an Equestrian Capitulation, and then fight Stalliongrad, or split your forces. Both choices have risks. Beware a small force against Stalliongrad getting encircled. Putting units to guard key cities such as Manehatten and using the last stand tactic may be a risky, but cheap way to hold while the war against Equestria is wrapped up. Keep in mind that if Manehatten is cut off from the rest of the Lunar Empire, supply issues will destroy your army - better to concede it. Having a large army of small units will help, as they can push into Equestria or fight a delaying action against Stalliongrad. If fighting a two front, put the strong units on the Stalliongrad line, and let the light units clean up Equestria. This may be enough to eliminate Celestia's divisions. It is very likely that it will be easier to fold Equestria first and then Stalliongrad more than the other way around. New Mareland's Invasions If the game is played on historical then New Mareland will fight for Equestria. They will likely attempt naval invasions and so make sure to keep a defensive fleet (of submarines if necessary) New Mareland's low population mean that any landings, if mopped up quickly with encirclements, will essentially knock them out of the war. The Final Push If the player is not distracted, loses no divisions and regularly encircles enemy divisions, the Lunar Empire should gradually have the numerical advantage. When this is the case, start your advance in enemy territory, and be careful of some of the low supply mountainous regions in the central west. If you get to this stage and Stalliongrad has not entered the war then the victory is near, you have but to finish the job. Focus Selection The Lunar Empire is most crippled by equipment. There is more than enough ponypower, but not enough rifles. With the Fragile Rule it suffers -20% to production efficiency cap. Fortunately, the Political Tree solves both of these problems. Suggested focus choices below. *'New Moon Volunteers' creates 12 equipped divisions This leads to a choice of centre vs right. * On the right, a Firm Hoof immediately relieves the worst of the production penalties, enabling your factories to get replacing losses. * On the centre, Support the Disciples delivers 3,500 rifles to Nightmare Moon's followers in the south, which is probably enough to guarantee their victory in the southern mini civil war, but also lets you access Loyalist Turncoats, which adds six additional divisions. Once these 3 focuses have been completed the player has more freedom. Some potential routes * Crackdown on Rebel Groups for a quick PP surge * Introduce Mandatory Military Service to avoid any future ponypower problems thanks to the 3% of recruitable population. * Review the Military and Soldiers of the Night for a quick boost of experience necessary to design better divisions. * Expand the Arms Industry will give you factories to supply your war effort, as well as allowing you to gain another research slot a few more focuses down. Aftermath of the Civil War The player must now prepare for the Changelings, as the maluses slough away and the full industrial might of Equestria comes to bear. * - If it has not already been taken by your forces of Night, it is even more essential to remove it quickly, to remove a threat of a two front war and build up factories. * - You will be invited to help them finish their war or declare war on the victorious . Once these are finished, defensive strategies are like that of Equestria on the standard route - well equipped infantry, good air support, use of the unique pony magical tree and powerful magical infantry, fortifications on the border, and fallback lines, and use of rivers. Remember that the Changelings tend to use numerous tank and motorised divisions - get the anti-tank supports, use Last Stand to hold the line, and if they break through let them overextend and then encircle. Once the threat has been eliminated, all that remains is to reclaim any secessionist states. If New Mareland is puppeted, it will receive a unique Lunar Empire tree, and eventually get a wargoal against Wingbardy. Only a unified Griffon Empire can stop you now. Technology The technologies available at the beginning of the civil war are the same as Equestria. See Equestria#Technology Politics National Spirits Starting Spirits *This national spirit appears after 100 days after the beginning of the civil war with the acquisition of the cores over the Lunar Empire's territories. Leader Staff and Designers Political Advisors Tank Designer Ship Designer Aircraft Designer Materiel Designer Industrial Concern Theorist Chief of Army Chief of Navy Chief of Airforce Military High Command Economy Laws Laws are inherited from Equestria. Industry The factory numbers below are for a day 1 civil war. The numbers will be different. If the focus Military Potential, Manehattan Steel and Fillydelphia Automobile Factories are completed as Equestria before the civil war, you will start with the industrial capacity as follows: Resources Resources are inherited from held Equestrian Territory. ru:Лунная Империя Category:Countries